Car Insurance

Derrick229 · 2 Aug 2022 at 22:58

Everyone that has a car or vehicle knows they have to be insured

I got an email telling me my insurance was due from my insurers, OneCall

My insurance wasnt due until the 22/08/ 2022, but I went ahead and insured it

Now Onecall dont have a phone line, they have this chat thing

I waited over an hour for someone to come on there

Then it was all down to the keyboard and waiting for replies, it is a very long drawn out process (which could have been sorted out with a simple phone call)

They say customers prefer the chat thing rather than waiting on a phone queue, I have no idea where they got that from

Yes I did renew, but they took the money straight away, I wasnt happy about that

Anyway today I sold my car, so I didnt need the insurance

So it was back on the chat thing, another long wait (so long my phone was dying)

Eventually I got someone on there

Told them I wanted to cancel my insurance

They then went onto tell me that there would be a charge of £49.99 to cancel, this was well inside the 14 day cooling off period

They daid it was part of their T&C and that is what I would be charged for cancelling, even though I hadnt used my insurance, hadnt got any documents (either email or hard copies)

Then another charge of £59.99 for an admin fee

You cant argue on a chat thing, like you can on a phone line, they just use copy and paste replies

Now as you can imagine I am really annoyed at this, (this is the reason I am sharing this)

If anyone uses OneCall insurance, make sure you read the T&C or you might get stung by this

It also applies to home insurance, I have no idea what that is like, I just hope I never have to make a claim with them

I dont know if anyone here is using OneCall, but if you are good luck on the 'contact us chat thing'

I think their service is appalling, the same as the customer service (which there isnt any

I have to wait 7-14 days for my refund as well

Werewolf · 2 Aug 2022 at 23:06

I'll move this to motors.

If the insurance hasn't started yet I thought it was normally no fee to cancel.

Just to clarify when did you call them to agree to the insurance?

Derrick229 · 2 Aug 2022 at 23:09

3 days ago, you thought the same as I did, nothing to pay if cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period
They insist its in their T&C
I couldnt find it, there is a lot to go through

You cant call them they dont have a phone line

StonedPenguin · 2 Aug 2022 at 23:12

Onecall and and you can't even call them lol.

Derrick229 · 2 Aug 2022 at 23:14

Exactly my point

Haggisman · 6 Aug 2022 at 08:18

01302 554015 appears to be their customer services number (taken from saynoto0870).

Good luck, sounds like a right scummy company wanting to charge you £100 for basically nothing!

Edit: checked their T&Cs and they do state the £49.99 "setup" fee for a new policy (which you should have read, but still; £50 to basically process a payment is laughable), but the £55.99 doesn't apply within the cooling off period.

kitkat9933 · 6 Aug 2022 at 11:13

I thought legally you had the right to 14 days to cancel any contract at no cost, no questions ask, as long as you return items related to it and they are undamaged (eg phone handset)

pastymuncher · 6 Aug 2022 at 14:09

Onecall are a terrible company. I went to them with 12 Years no claims bonus and was with them for 2 years so should have had 14 years NCB when I left but they refused to acknowledge anything beyond 9 years so I lost 5 years NCB when leaving. I had a nightmare getting it back and had to get letters stating how much NCB I had from the companies I was with in previous years to build up a record for my next insurer (MoreThan) who reinstated the 12 years I had before Oncall so only lost 2 years NCB. I found Onecall to have very rude unhelpful staff (they had phone lines then) and they take money in advance for the next years premium before the current year expired even if you phone to cancel. It was always a case of either not informing them quick enough even though it was no later than 2 weeks before the current cover finished or something was done incorrectly on their end so I had to fight to get my money back. A really scummy company which I now avoid like the plague. I dread to think what would have happened if I needed to claim!!

muon · 7 Aug 2022 at 03:10

I never understood why people go with companies that have zero reputation. You can even tell from their website it isn't that professional.

I also don't understand why you renewed and purchased early when you knew you might be selling.

BUDFORCE · 7 Aug 2022 at 09:48

One Call Insurance Services Limited - Registered Office: First Point, Balby Carr Bank, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN4 5JQ. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for general insurance business. You can check our authorised status at register.fca.org.uk using our registered number 302961.

Complain.

Under FCA regulation they have either: 3 days to resolve your complaint which you need to acknowledge that you are satisfied, or, 5 days to acknowledge your complaint and 8 weeks to resolve it.

You can then forward the complaint to the financial ombudsman, even if they have somehow managed to get around this with some loophole, forward it to ombudsman, because every complaint regardless of whether it is upheld or not will cost that company several hundred pounds.

They also monitor the amount of complaints, so if it's a shoddy company they are no doubt getting them, and might lead to further action.

Haggisman · 7 Aug 2022 at 18:33

kitkat9933 said:
I thought legally you had the right to 14 days to cancel any contract at no cost, no questions ask, as long as you return items related to it and they are undamaged (eg phone handset)

You can, which is why they use the loophole of a "setup fee" rather than a cancellation fee. Its a really ****** thing to do, so as above, raise a complaint - you might get told to do one as its in their T&Cs, but if enough people raise it with the FCA then they might close the loophole :mad:

Derrick229 · 8 Aug 2022 at 01:08

muon said:
I never understood why people go with companies that have zero reputation. You can even tell from their website it isn't that professional.

I also don't understand why you renewed and purchased early when you knew you might be selling.

I didnt know I would be selling so soon

touch · 8 Aug 2022 at 06:32

You still have (had) an active policy which was due to expire on 22/08 so presumably that's what the cancellation fee was for and not the new policy which hadn't started yet?

Derrick229 · 8 Aug 2022 at 08:11

I never cancelled the policy that was going to end, just let it die on 24 August 2022, it was the new policy I cancelled

touch · 8 Aug 2022 at 11:49

Derrick229 said:
I never cancelled the policy that was going to end, just let it die on 24 August 2022, it was the new policy I cancelled

It's not the 24th August yet so is your insurance is still active?
Did you tell them you had sold the car? They probably won't let you keep your insurance active if you've sold the car.

Whatever they've cancelled, it's still pretty poor how much their cancellation fee is!

Derrick229 · 8 Aug 2022 at 12:04

No I didnt tell them, just let it run until it dies
They werent interested in that bit
I use my insurance to drive the wifes car

tom_e · 8 Aug 2022 at 12:36

As a word of advice you're leaving yourself open to a massive world of pain by insuring a car you no longer own if anything goes wrong.

Derrick229 · 8 Aug 2022 at 12:38

I can still use my Willys jeep insurance, can’t see any problems with it
Never been stopped or pulled

Bear · 8 Aug 2022 at 13:06

Sounds like they are confusing your current policy which is still ongoing and the new one which hasnt started yet. Perhaps they are stupid and are trying to cancel your current policy?

Derrick229 · 8 Aug 2022 at 13:07

I got a letter today confirming my policy is cancelled and my current policy runs out 24 august 2022